1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a substrate processing system, a substrate processing method, and a storage medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a process of manufacturing a semiconductor device or an FPD (Flat Panel Display) such as a liquid crystal display from a substrate, there is a problem of preventing the substrate from being contaminated by particles that get in from outside the manufacturing apparatus or are produced in the manufacturing apparatus. In particular, if a stage provided in a reduced pressure processing chamber of the manufacturing apparatus is contaminated with particles, then the particles will become attached to a rear surface of the substrate mounted on the stage, so that the contamination escalates in subsequent processes, resulting in the yield of the semiconductor devices ultimately manufactured decreasing.
As such particles, one can envisage, for example, ones brought in from outside the reduced pressure processing chamber, ones formed by deposit being detached through contact between the stage and the substrate in the reduced pressure processing chamber, and deposit comprised of a product produced from a reactive gas.
Recently, the present applicants have thus proposed a method in which the temperature of the stage in the reduced pressure processing chamber is controlled, the temperature of the stage being made to be sufficiently higher or lower than a usual operating temperature, so that detachment of particles attached to the stage is induced through thermal stress, and furthermore have proposed a method in which the stage is held at a high temperature and a predetermined pressure is held so as to produce a thermophoretic force, whereby particles attached to the stage are scattered away from the stage (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application No. 2004-218939).
However, the substrate is not only contaminated by particles produced in the reduced pressure processing chamber, for example, particles attached to the stage on which the substrate is mounted, but rather is also contaminated during a transferring process of transferring the substrate. This arises in particular through transfer of particles attached to a transfer arm that transfers the substrate. To remove the particles attached to the transfer arm, operation of the transfer arm, and hence of a transfer chamber must be stopped; in particular, to stop the operation of a transfer chamber to which a plurality of processing chambers are connected, operation of all of the processing chambers must be stopped, and hence the throughput decreases markedly.